Washington – She was the last time she saw her husband, the father of her three children, when they left their apartment in Washington a month ago to buy milk and drilling. A long time ago, he called to say he had been withdrawn – but you don’t worry, because he was just a local police. The next time I heard about, he was at a detention center in Virginia.
Since that day, the three -year -old mother was very afraid of taking her son to their near rented school. Like her husband, who has been deported since then, she is a migrant from Guatemala and has lived in the United States illegally for more than a decade. She spoke on the condition that her identity is not revealed in fear Immigration authorities.
The children of the three spouses were born in the country’s capital, and the two olders were attending a local rented school. She planned to keep them at home until their leadership volunteer showed. However, one of the children was very annoyed by his father’s absence, as he missed three days from school.
Schools in Washington were reopened late last month against the background Law enforcement boom Which brought persuasive migration and customs agents to calm neighborhoods, and the scenes that are likely to be repeated elsewhere as President Donald Trump sends federal agents to the streets Other big cities.
In some Washington societies, the fear that spread due to the presence of the police affected children. Some students have invaded parents in the campaign. Other students fear that they or their family members may be after that. Parents wrestle with how to explain the situation.
“In my community, the influence was the tremendous fear and terrorism that threatens the safety of students from their arrival at school every day,” said Ben Williams, a teacher of social studies at a high school also served in the Education Council in Colombia. “It makes everyone really feel ready every day regarding whether someone, a member of society, a parent, or any person close or related to society, can be taken.”
In the Mount Plezant neighborhood in northwestern Washington, where both those with millions of dollars and apartments share affordable prices for migrant families in the same blocs on which trees lined up, Federal agents have become a common scene and the neighbors have documented many arrests.
His 7 -year -old son, Raul Cortez, said that his 7 -year -old son is very afraid of the police.
“Children are interested. They are very smart, and they know what is happening,” said Cortez.
A few moments later, his son caught a bright police car. His eyes widened.
Taking into account that some parents were afraid to leave the house, volunteers began organizing “walking buses” to accompany groups of children on foot from residential buildings to schools. Outside the Bancroft Elementary, who teaches students in English and Spanish, volunteers are concentrated in street corners in orange jackets, ready to detonate a whistle if they see signs of immigration authorities.
Research linked immigration raids near schools to Low academic results For Latin students, who are more vulnerable to family relations with immigrants.
Trump’s immigration campaign also affected the attendees in schools in other parts of the country. In the months that followed his inauguration in January, provinces were informed all over the country about the presence of less like migrant families Keep their children at home. In the center of the Valley in California, the immigration raids coincided in January and February with a rise of 22 % in the absence of students compared to the previous two academic years, according to a study conducted by Economy expert at Stanford Thomas de and large local news.
In Washington, the Vice -President of Education, Paul Keen, said at a press conference near the beginning of the school year that the attendees were at the same level last year. Public schools, the capital, which educates about half of the provincial students, said they could not provide data on school attendance during federal intervention.
But Williams, who represents schools that serve large migrant communities, said that attendance in some schools has achieved great success.
In all parts of the country, the teachers were alert since Trump, a Republican, in January, the Ministry of Internal Security ordered the cancellation of a note that prevents officers from Entering schools and churches Without the approval of the supervisor. They replaced her with instructions urging officers to use “discretionary power and a healthy dose of healthy sense” before placing the foot on the school campus.
The largest teachers ’unions in the country litigate Last week due to the immigration campaign, saying that the fear raised by the arrests near universities led some children to leave the school.
In response, internal security officials said that ICE agents did not enter schools for arrests. “The ice does not conduct enforcement in schools or” raids, “schools do not go to schools to arrest children,” said Assistant Minister Tricia McLeulin in a statement.
Emma Lesni, the education lawyer who worked in the Ministry of Education during the era of President Joe Biden, a democratic, said fear may be widespread even if the ice agents did not enter a school.
Lenny said: “Since the ice connects our local schools or leaves us with the impression that they may be, the effect is the immediate cold that extends beyond the school building to the neighborhood and society.”
In all parts of the United States, in 2023, there were 4.6 million children born in the United States who lived with a parent who had no permission to be in the country, according to the Pew Research Center. 1.5 million children were without legal permission themselves.
For children separated from their parents, the losses are very slope.
The mother of three Guatemala said that her children are now sleeping in her bed and waking up in the middle of the night crying. This week, her husband arrived in Guatemala. She is considering returning to her country of origin because without caring for the child, and while she is afraid of deportation, she cannot work.
She said: “My dream was to give them the best education, and the education I had no education.”
Her older son wanted to be a doctor, and her middle child is a police officer.
She said, “This American dream has gone.”
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